forming inquiry commission to find out padma scam conspirators

Govt gets fresh deadline

The High Court Division on Monday extended the deadline until May 9 for the government to report progress in forming a commission of inquiry to find out the conspirators who allegedly circulated false stories about corruption in awarding contracts for Padma Bridge construction.A bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Mohammad Ullah extended the deadline after the cabinet secretary prayed for eight weeks’ time to form the commission of inquiry as the court in a suo moto rule issued on February 15 had directed.On behalf of the cabinet secretary, deputy attorney general Tapash Kumar Biswas submitted the prayer.The DAG submitted that the respondents, the cabinet secretary, the secretaries of the ministries of home, law and communication, the inspector general of police and the Anti-Corruption Commission chairman needed the time for holding several sittings to implement the rule.On February 15, the bench asked the respondents to explain in four weeks why they would not be directed to form a commission of inquiry under Section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1956 to find out the ‘real culprits and ‘to bring them to justice’.The court also asked the cabinet secretary to report in 30 days if any action was taken against the conspirators.The court issued the suo moto rule taking cognizance of a Dainik Inqilab report published under caption ‘Yunuser bichar dabi’ (Trial of Yunus demanded): ‘Biswa Bank o TIB’s Khama Chahar Ahban’ (Asked to seek apology from World Bank:TIB), published on February 14.The court said that it came to know about the issue from reports published by Dainik Inqilab and some other newspapers.On February 10, Ontasio Superior Court acquitted the accused of all the charges at prosecutions’request which termed the allegation as ‘gossip and rumour’. ‘The whole episode of the corruption and allegations are now found to have been created of a certain quarter who has tarnished the image of the nation internationally and also have tried to jeopardize development work of the nation, and have acted against sovereignty of the nation, which is required to be unearth and the person responsible be brought to justice,’ said the court order.